Combat!
reviews by Jo Davidsmeyer * Episodes rated from 0 to 4 bayonets
Lost Sheep, Lost Shepherd (005)
Rating: 1 bayonet
Written by Robert Hardy Andrews
Directed by Burt Kennedy
Produced by Robert Blees
Aired October 16, 1962
Season 1, Episode 3
Syndication Order 5
Guest Star Jeffrey Hunter
SYNOPSIS:
Jeffrey Hunter stars in "Lost Sheep, Lost Shepherd" as tanker Sgt. Dane, a man
mad at the world, mad at the war, and mad at God. He's not too thrilled with Hanley and
Saunders, either. During the breakthrough, Hanley and a squad of men become cut off behind
enemy lines. They are saved from a German ambush by the unexpected appearance of Dane and
his tank. Their gratitude is short-lived as Dane’s recklessness and anger takes on a
savage edge and they discover the secret he can’t live with: that he’s a failed
priest now turned killer.
Review
Jeffrey Hunter and director Burt Kennedy together create a great triumph of style over
substance in this tale of a man tormented by a lost dream. Hunter plays Dane with a
startling intensity throughout. Kennedy provides moody and ethereal cinematography,
highlighting Dane's wraith-like isolation as a man experiencing his own private agony
(whether it's his private hell or private purgatory, even he doesn't know).
I enjoy watching this episode and revel in the craft of Hunter and Kennedy, but in the
end, I always feel cheated by the tale. Ultimately, who cares? Considering his actions,
I'd have to say that Dane was ill-suited emotionally for his chosen career. I agree with
Saunders, whose long speech to Dane ultimately boils down to one simple admonition:
"Get over it." Stripped of all the beautiful camera work and fine acting,
"Lost Sheep, Lost Shepherd" is about a man artfully wallowing in self-pity for
an hour.
ABOUT FILMING THE EPISODE:
Rick Jason always enjoyed working with director Burt Kennedy. “He was a wonderful
director. Very easy to work with.”
NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS:
- The opening sequence includes fantastic footage of real tank engagements along with an
overly dramatic narration.
- Trek fans will remember Jeffrey Hunter as Capt. Chris Pike in the first Trek pilot.
- Caje is conveniently absent from this episode. With him present, the squad could
immediately have found out about the Germans from the priest. Where was Caje? Were he and
Braddock out chasing babes together?
- Speaking of Braddock, this is the first appearance of Kelly, in a very smart-aleck,
comic role that in other episodes would have gone to Braddock.
- Where did Dane get the cassock he's wearing in the final scene?
- In the final scene where Jeff Hunter, dressed as a priest, shoots it out with the
Germans, one of the Germans comes through the door carrying an American Thompson.
- Doc, while holding the puppy, helps search the town for Germans. Why is the medic being
used for search duty? What is Doc going to do if he finds any Germans: throw a puppy at
them?
- My favorite moment in the show: Hanley and Saunders burst into the church, teeth gritted
and lead flying, spraying the building with bullets .... until you look closely and notice
Hanley's gun isn't firing. He's just swinging that carbine back and forth. All the shots are
coming from Saunders' Thompson.
Cast Credits
 Rick Jason
as Lt. Gil Hanley
Vic Morrow
as Sgt. Saunders
Special Guest Star
Jeffrey Hunter as Sergeant Dane
Steven Rogers as Doc
Martin Brandt as The Priest
Joby Baker as Kelly
Tony Mordente ..... Morello
Dick Peabody ..... Littlejohn
Rex Holman ..... Christy
Hans Difflip ..... German Officer
Dialog Excerpts
- OPENING NARRATION:
- Normandy, 1944. Breakthrough. For tank commanders there was no real front line. They met
the enemy where he could be found. A few weeks after D-day, U.S. intelligence discovered
that a panzer column had been redirected during the night to take positions near
Vibrey(???). Our forces were ordered to engage them. The trap was set. Once the enemy was
engaged, individual initiative took over. The front was fluid. Small infantry tank teams
drove ahead, often to find that the enemy had closed ranks behind them. Tank detachments
found themselves closed off from command. Spearhead tanks pushed on even though cut-off.
Infantry units met up with them and, together, they pushed on, attacking as they went.
Supplies ran short or disappeared entirely. Tanks were low on fuel. They fought on.
- (See book review at bottom of page for more information about the actual battle,
codenamed Cobra)
-
- Saunders:
- (Dane tries to go into Padre's room.) I wouldn't go in there if I were you.
You're off limits. That's official, sergeant. (Dane continues towards priests room, but
Saunders voice stops him.) Dane, I was talking to Morello and Christy, And they told me
something. Something that's keeping me from putting my hands on you and just throwing you
right out in that street. They told me that you were a ... a spoiled priest.
- Dane:
- Is that what they call me?
- Saunders:
- That's right. Well that can explain a lot of things. Like you blowin' that cross off
that church. Goin' after the padre the way you did. Now, I can understand why a man that's
trying to get something out of his system. But one war is enough to fight at one time. So
why don't you just forget about the one inside you until this one is over?
- Dane:
- I don't need any advice from you, sergeant. There are a lot of things that Christy and
Morello didn't tell you.
- Saunders:
- Do you wanna talk about it?
- Dane:
- No, I dont. (turns to go into priest's room)
- Saunders:
- Well, you better, because we're gonna tangle if you keep doing what you're doing.
- Dane:
- The week before I was to be ordained, I got into a fight. It wasn't the first time I had
trouble. They were right. I deserved everything that happened to me. Sergeant, did you
ever have anything get away from you? Something that you really wanted? That you loved?
That you thought you couldn't be without? But you didn't know it until it was too late?
Well, that's what happened to me. I wanted to be a priest more than anything in this life.
Anything. I even thought about going back and asking them to forgive me. And I think they
would have.
- Saunders:
- Why didn't you?
- Dane:
- Because of the war.
- Saunders:
- The war won't last forever.
- Dane:
- Oh, won't it? Do you think I could go back now? Start over?
- Saunders:
- A lot of us will.
- Dane:
- Well it's not the same for me. You know how many men I've killed?
- Saunders:
- Do you know how many I've killed because I've had to? You think it's easier for me
because you're closer to God? Whatever we do, whatever happens to us, we're gonna have to
live with it. And if we get out of here alive and get back home, we're just gonna have to
learn to live with it. That's the way I figure.
- Dane:
- That's not the way I figure.
- Saunders:
- Yeah, and you wanna know why? Because you've got no guts. That's why you got yourself
thrown out the way you did. Because way down deep inside you didn't think you were man
enough. And you wanna know something, Sergeant? You were right.
- Dane:
- Can I go in now?
- Saunders:
- Why? What do you want to do in there. You want to grab that Padre? Is that gonna make
you feel better, is it?
- Dane:
- I want to go to confession.
- Hanley:
- Sounds like the division's ready to break out.
- Saunders:
- Not too soon to suit me. I get lonely.
- Hanley:
- Sergeant, what do you make of Dane?
- Saunders:
- Seems like he and the Padre learned their Latin from the same book. Only the sergeant
didn't get to graduate.
- Hanley:
- Who told you that?
- Saunders:
- Morello and Christy. I guess a man can carry a live bomb inside him just so long.
- Hanley:
- Who put it there?
- Saunders:
- Well, he did. But that doesn't make it any easier. Being a tank sergeant isn't the best
way to becoming a priest.
- Hanley:
- Meaning he doesn't think he can get there from here.
- Saunders:
- Lieutenant, he killed ten men today. Maybe more. And then there was yesterday. And the
day before. As the guy keeps sayin', it's a stinkin' war.
 Breakout at Normandy: The 2nd Armored
Division in the Land of the Dead
by Mark A. Bando
Imagine being deep in enermy territory, some 12 miles behind the German front, when
a massive tidal wave of retreating troops crashes against your thin line of tanks and
halftracks. These retreating troops are not second string units, but elite SS Panzer
outfits, moving in darkness to avoid fighter-bomber attacks and filled with a desperate
determination to leapfrog your line to establish a new front.
That is how the 2nd Armored Division (aka "Hell of Wheels")
became embroiled in one of the most confusing, carnage-filled battles of WWII. Derived
from interviews of over 300 veterans of the 2nd Armored Division, the author pieces
together the events of that horrilenight and tells this amazing true story in stunning
detail. First-person accounts (both American and German) and over 110 rare photographs.
Trade Paperback: 160 pages, ISBN 0-760-30654-0
Read
more...
See discussion of Normandy Breakout
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